Myopia, also called nearsightedness or shortsightedness, is the eye condition where objects nearby or a short distance away are clear but objects that are far away are blurred. It is caused by the eye being slightly too long.

• – One can stop the eyes from becoming myopic or progression of myopia.
• – Myopia is getting worse around the world, even to the point of being called an epidemic by some. In some parts of Asia, 80% of the girls in high school are myopic. In the United States, myopia has increased 66% in thirty years so that now 42% of people aged 12-54 are myopic.
• – Myopic parents have more myopic children than non-myopic parents.
• – People in urban environments have more myopia than rural or primitive societies.
• – The amount of reading or near work a person does is not predictive of whether they will become myopic.
• – People who spend more time outdoors, even if they have myopic parents and even if they read a lot, are less likely to become myopic. We don’t know why exactly – it may be the sun, it may be focusing on distant objects or some other factor.
• – Spending too much time on the tablets and mobile games can accelerate the progression
• – Your child needs an eye exam every year starting at age five. (Check-ups before then.) The goal is to actively start treatment within a few months of myopia starting. In general, you can slow or stop it, you can’t make it better.

Treatment Options.

• – Atropine: reviews – the ATOM study. – 77% myopic progression reduction.
• – Pirenzepine: approximately 50% reduction; not available easily.
• – Bifocals: No slowing of myopia
• – Progressive Addition Lenses(COMET study): PALs are “not clinically meaningful”
• – Contact lenses (RGP): “not effective for myopia control”
• – Orthokeratology: “…no evidence for long-term efficacy of orthokeratology in reducing myopia progression…A gold standard randomized controlled trial is needed ..”
• – Undercorrection: makes things worse. “This means that myopes may have an abnormal mechanism for detecting the direction of optical defocus of the retinal image.”
• – Part time lens wear: No effect seen. Larger study called for.
• – NeuroVision: A commercial internet based system of training. Preliminary results compared to age matched normals of another study showed slowing of myopia.
• – EyeRelax: “a microscope-like device”. No evidence it can retard myopia.
• – Pinhole Glasses: No evidence it can retard myopia.
• – Bates Method: “Bates’ anecdotal reports of improved vision have not been evaluated in trials.

Who is likely to develop myopia?

A child is more likely to develop myopia if he/she:

• – has one or both parents who have myopia
• – is frequently involved in near work such as reading, writing, computer work for long periods of time without a break.